This invention relates to an apparatus for leveling coal that has been charged into an oven chamber of a battery of coke ovens. More particularly, the present invention relates to a horizontally movable leveling rod supported on a carriage for displacement along the battery of coke ovens together with apparatus whereby the leveling rod can be positioned for introduction at a preselected elevation into an oven chamber through an opening in an oven door.
As is known, dust-containing gases are produced when coal which is fed into the oven chamber, comes into contact with the hot chamber walls. When a leveling rod is pushed into the oven chamber and as it moves back and forth through an opening in the oven door, there is a chance that such gases may escape if the gases are not drawn off at another location in the oven chamber. Efforts to counteract the risk of escaping gases during leveling have been directed to utilizing the smallest possible opening in the oven door for the entry of the leveling rod into an oven chamber. It is desirable, on the other hand, to have the capability of altering the filling height of the coal in the oven chamber when the type of coal to be coked is changed and when using the type of coal having different shrinkage capacities. Also, it may be that from time-to-time, changes to the filling height of the coal in a coke chamber will affect the character or nature of the conversion of carbon compounds contained in the distillation gas that is created while such gas travels to a gas-collecting area. A special and different situation with regard to the leveling height of the coal charged into an oven chamber is also encountered when after part way through the coking process, a layer of fine coal, e.g., coal slack and coal dust, is fed into the oven chamber if this additional fine coal is to be leveled.
It is known in the art to support a leveling rod upon a movable rig in such a manner that the leveling rod may be operated at various levels or heights. In order to facilitate the introduction of the leveling rod into an oven chamber at various heights or levels, the opening in the oven door, which may be closed by means of a special door or lid, must be at a particular height. However, if the top surface of the coal charge in the oven chamber is located at a level which is higher than the lower edge of the opening in the door, then the lower portion of the opening in the door must be covered so that the coal in the oven chamber is not thrown out by the leveling rod as it moves during the leveling operation.
There are known types of oven doors at the machine side of coke oven chambers onto which plates can be adjustably attached by screws to define a coal level height within a larger opening in the oven door. These plates are bolted onto the door in such a manner that the remaining horizontal opening receives the leveling rod at the intended or proposed level of the coal charge in the chamber. This protects the portion of the coal located below the opening in the door from being thrown out during the leveling operation. A portion of the opening located above the leveling rod may be closed by an attached plate, thus preventing flue gases from escaping. If, for example, in connection with the type of oven door presently under discussion, the level or height of the coal charge in the oven chamber is to be changed, then all the plates affixed to each door for the oven chambers must be unbolted and if required, bolted again to the doors at a different level or elevation. In addition to the considerable amount of work required when a change is contemplated to the coal charge height, the plates attached to the doors also tend to become fused, for example, burned or sintered onto the door, so that it is, in many instances, not even possible to loosen the bolts attaching the plates to the door.